Deadly Aim: A Shandra Higheagle Mystery #3 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  More Shandra Higheagle Books

  About the Author

  Deadly Aim

  by

  Paty Jager

  This is a work of fiction, Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  DEADLY AIM: A SHANDRA HIGHEAGLE MYSTERY

  Copyright © 2015 Patricia Jager

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Windtree Press except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Windtree Press

  2660 NE Belknap Court

  Suite 101-O

  Hillsboro, OR 97124

  Visit us at http://windtreepress.com

  Cover Art by Christina Keerins

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Published in the United States of America

  ISBN 9781940064970

  Chapter One

  After a two-week sojourn of teaching and displaying her pottery at an art show in New Mexico, Shandra Higheagle needed this leisurely horseback ride to get back in tune with nature. She breathed deep, inhaling the pine scent and undertones of decaying plant life. The changing colors and brisk autumn air energized Shandra.

  Lil, Shandra’s Jill-of-all-trades, had suggested the ride. Every time Shandra spent more than a few days off the mountain she had to get reacquainted with her roots in order to re-submerge herself in her art.

  Her bear-sized dog, Sheba, loped ahead disappearing through the huckleberry bushes. The dog loved lumbering over Huckleberry Mountain while Shandra rode her horse.

  It wasn’t just her time away that had Shandra’s mind wandering. Only one week and she’d be attending Ryan’s brother’s wedding to Ryan’s ex-girlfriend. Shandra and the handsome Weippe detective hadn’t made any kind of commitment to one another, but she did find his company pleasurable. And she had to admit, she was curious about his family and the woman who he’d set his sights on marrying in seventh grade.

  “Woof! Woof!”

  Sheba’s excited bark caught Shandra’s attention. It didn’t sound like her pursuing or scared bark. It had a mournful lilt to it.

  “Where are you girl?” Shandra stood in the stirrups and scanned the area she’d last seen her dog. Her gelding, Apple, started dancing nervously and blew air in short snorts. Something had both animals on alert.

  “Woof! Woof!”

  She zeroed in on the sound and reined Apple that direction. Sheba’s head was down and the way her body shook, she was digging.

  “What is it girl?” Shandra dodged a tree limb as Apple snorted and started to back up.

  “Whoa. What has you spooked?” She ran a hand down the horse’s neck to soothe him and stared at the ground where Sheba pawed.

  Her stomach lurched and her mouth went dry. Sheba dug at the ground next to a bloody, disemboweled body.

  Apple pivoted with barely a touch of the reins. Shandra sat with her back to the sight. Bile rose in her throat. She usually wasn’t squeamish, but this was the first time she’d witnessed a mauled human. “Sheba, come!” she ordered without glancing back. When Sheba appeared beside the horse, Shandra leaned down and patted the dog on the head. “Good girl. Stay.”

  She straightened in the saddle and the image flashed in her mind. “Why do I find all the bodies on this mountain?” This body didn’t capture her imagination like the thirty-year-old bones she’d found in her clay pocket. She shivered and searched the forest around her. Nothing lurked but she couldn’t shake the fear prickling her skin.

  The small bar on her phone faded in and out. “I have to give it a try. I don’t want to leave this poor person to any more animals.” She found Ryan’s name and pushed the dial button. “Not again. Ryan’s not going to believe this anymore than I do.”

  “Shandra, I…thinking…you.”

  His voice cutting in and out wasn’t a good sign.

  “I found a body. Go to my ranch and have Lil bring you out to me.” She hoped he heard enough to know what to do.

  “Body? Are… How…” The connection broke.

  Drawing a deep breath, Shandra tried to decide how to keep the body safe from any more animals. She couldn’t leave Sheba. The dog’s size would be daunting for most animals, but if an animal so much as growled, Sheba would dash back to the ranch faster than a jet.

  Her phone beeped.

  Glancing at the front, she spotted a text message.

  Where R you? Ryan asked.

  She typed back. Found body along east property line. Lil can bring you.

  K, he texted in reply.

  Now, to spend two hours waiting for them without looking at the body. Who could this be and why were they on my property? She tied Apple to a tree, sat down on a log, and hugged Sheba. “I’ve never felt scared on the mountain before.”

  ~*~

  Ryan was a half hour from Huckleberry and then another forty-five minutes from Shandra’s ranch. He was beginning to think the woman was a body detector. First the gallery owner, then the thirty-year-old skeleton, and who knew what she’d stumbled across this time. The only thing he did know—he’d always be there for the eccentric artist. The past few months he’d spent more and more time with the woman. The more he learned about her, the more he knew she was the one. When he could shed his demons and settle down, he’d ask her to marry him.

  With lights flashing and sirens blaring, he swerved off Hwy 90, turned right, and barreled down the main street of Huckleberry. The ritzy resort had been off-limits to a sheep rancher’s son growing up forty miles away, but now it was part of his territory as a Weippe County Detective.

  No sooner had he entered and exited town than he was flying at eighty miles an hour up the county road toward Shandra’s ranch. The woman liked living on her mountain. The more he visited her there, the more he understood how the area revitalized and fed her artistic talents. Part of his speed was to find the body, but the other part was the fact Shandra had been gone for two weeks. He’d told himself he’d give her a couple days to recuperate then invite himself to dinner. He’d never planned on seeing her again because of a dead body.

  He whipped his SUV up a side road nearly hidden by overgrown pines. This bumpy, miserable excuse for a road was Shandra’s way of keeping people out. It looked like a forest service road and wasn’t vehicle friendly. He had to slow the Tahoe to a crawl to navigate the bumps and not toss all his equipment in the back into a heap. The house, studio, and barn came into view and he un
derstood Shandra’s penchant for not wanting to leave her place.

  His siren was still blaring. Lil, Shandra’s employee, walked out of the barn with the old orange cat wrapped around her neck like a live fur stole. The woman wore her signature purple clothing. Today it was an over-sized sweatshirt and stocking cap. Her gray hair stuck out like spikes on a flail.

  He braked in front of the barn, shut off the lights and siren, and hopped out of the vehicle. “Shandra called. She’s found another body.”

  Lil shook her head. “What is with that woman?”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Ryan strode toward the barn with Lil beside him. “She said it was along the east property line and you’d know how to get me there.”

  Lil nodded and pointed to the gelding Ryan used when he and Shandra trail rode together.

  He walked to the stall. “Hey, Duke. We’re after another body, you game?” He led the horse out and had him saddled by the time Lil swung up into the saddle of her horse.

  “Is the east property line very far?” He wondered about logistics to get the coroner and other deputies to the site.

  “About an hour. If she said I knew where she was, then she’s on her usual route for a trail ride.” Lil nudged her horse, and they trotted into the trees.

  I might as well gather information. “Who owns the land bordering Shandra’s on the east?”

  “J.W. Randal.”

  He wished he could pull out his notebook and jot that down, but the trail so far was fairly smooth and Lil kept the gait at a trot.

  “Full-time land owner or a seasonal resident?”

  “Full-time.”

  Lil was always one for few words, but he’d like some elaboration. “What does he use the land for?”

  Lil slowed her horse and stared at him. “Cattle and big game hunting.”

  She said the last with contempt.

  “He has the required license to do big game hunts?” Randal. The name was familiar. Where had he heard it? He’d tried to learn all the licensed big game hunting reserves.

  “All I know is people pay lots of money to shoot animals on his place. He was in the paper a few weeks ago for using illegal tags.”

  Chapter Two

  Shandra sat on a log, her back to the body. Her arms were wrapped around Sheba’s neck. She’d tried everything she could think of to console the dog, but Sheba wouldn’t stop whimpering.

  “It’s okay, girl. There’s nothing we can do for that person except help Ryan find out what happened.”

  Apple raised his head and nickered. A reply muffled by the thick fir and pine trees was followed by the thump of horse’s hooves. Lil and Ryan.

  Shandra stood, waiting for their approach. She shouldn’t be excited to see Ryan given the circumstances, but during her two weeks away, she’d thought of the man every moment she wasn’t teaching or talking to art gallery owners. Even Professor Landers, who’d ruined her faith in love and men, had never been on her mind as much as the Weippe detective.

  Lil appeared out of the trees first. The woman’s gaze peered into Shandra. They’d become closer since Lil had been a suspect for the murder of the last body Shandra had found. She knew her employee cared as much about her as she did about her reclusive employee.

  When Ryan appeared, Shandra’s gaze leapt to the man. His dark eyes crinkled at the edges as his wide mouth tipped up into an inviting smile. His square chin and jawline was the right combination of masculinity. Because of her artistic nature she’d always been drawn to men whose faces could be chiseled from stone.

  Her gaze didn’t leave Ryan as he dismounted and walked up to her.

  “I was anxious to see you, but this isn’t the way I’d wanted our first meeting after your trip.”

  She smiled at his joking tone. “Me either.”

  “Did you find more bones?” Lil asked, breaking the silence that had lapsed while Shandra stared at Ryan.

  “No. This body was alive not that long ago, I think.” She swallowed. “The animals have been feasting.”

  Ryan’s face sobered. He slipped the pack on his back to the ground and pulled out a camera. “Where’s the body?”

  Shandra pointed to the area behind her.

  Ryan’s gaze followed her pointing finger. “You two stay here. I’ll assess the situation.”

  He disappeared behind the trees. Shandra faced Lil. “Do you know the man who owns the land next door?”

  “J.W. Randal.”

  Shandra stared at Lil. “The man everyone was talking about before I left?” Her mind ran back over the heated conversations she’d eavesdropped on at Ruthie’s café on her last trip to town before heading to Arizona.

  “Yep. He’s been getting all types of people riled up since you left. Mostly his wife. I heard her screaming at him outside the bank. His illegal hunts are costing them lots in fines.” Lil grinned. “After the one was discovered, they started digging into J.W.’s finances.”

  A shiver slithered down Shandra’s back. “Do you think that’s J.W. over there?”

  Lil shrugged. “It could be a lost hiker or a hunting accident.”

  Shandra had a feeling the mutilated body Ryan was snapping photos of was her neighbor and that he hadn’t had an accident.

  ~*~

  Ryan stepped around the trees and stared down at the bloody, torn body. Hell of a way for a man to die. He hoped the poor guy was dead before the animals made a snack of him. He snapped photos as his mind took in the wounds, the clothing, and the lack of hunting or hiking gear. Studying the ground around the corpse, he spotted the direction the body had been dragged.

  He took photos of the drag marks, donned a glove, and slid his hand under the body, feeling for a wallet and identification. Nothing. It was odd that a person out in the woods wouldn’t be carrying any identification. Unless it was back at his camp. He peered at the drag marks and made his decision.

  Ryan returned to the two women. Seeing Shandra when he rode out of the trees had tumbled his heart. He knew something had happened in her past that she wasn’t ready to reveal to him. The experience kept her heart at a distance. He was willing to take the time to break through that barrier.

  “Did you find out who it is?” Shandra asked, walking toward him.

  “There wasn’t any identification, and the animals have ruined any facial recognition.”

  Shandra’s head bobbed, and Lil’s face paled.

  “Lil, ride back to the ranch and call the sheriff’s department. Tell them a body was found on this property. I’m keeping an eye on it and to send deputies and the coroner.” He nodded to the horses. “You’ll have to bring everyone up here. Take the horses with you.”

  “What about you and Shandra?” Lil’s gaze traveled from her employer to him and back to her employer.

  “We’ll be fine. Ryan has a gun.” Shandra smiled.

  “But if there are dangerous animals out here…” Lil let the thought trail off.

  “We’ll have Sheba,” Shandra said.

  Both Lil and Ryan burst out laughing.

  Ryan had been scared of the large dog the first time they’d met, but he’d learned quickly the dog was all bark and trepidation.

  “Okay,” Shandra grinned. “Sheba won’t protect us, but her size does keep most of the wild animals from getting too close.”

  “We’ll be fine.” Ryan said, gathering the reins to his horse and Shandra’s. “But you might tell them to hurry to get in and out before dark.”

  Lil nodded and mounted her horse.

  Ryan stood beside Shandra watching the last of the horse’s rumps disappear in the trees.

  She faced him. “How are we going to spend the next several hours?”

  The glint in her eyes shouldn’t have yanked his mind from his work, but it did. He gently drew her closer and settled his lips over hers. He’d missed their sweetness seconds after he’d kissed her good-bye before she headed to Arizona.

  Slowly, he pulled out of the kiss. “How did your trip go?”

&n
bsp; “Hmmm…” Her eyelids were closed. Her dark lashes fanned out over her high, tanned cheek bones.

  His gaze lingered on her pink lips. He wanted to kiss her again, but there was work to do. He tapped her perfect-sized nose, making her eyelids flip open, giving him the pleasure of gazing into her golden eyes.

  “Tell me about your trip while we follow the drag marks.” He captured her hand. He liked she didn’t have soft palms. They were rough and slightly calloused from working with clay.

  Her grip pulled him to a stop. “I don’t have to look at the body again do I?”

  He couldn’t stop the smile tipping at the corners of his mouth. “No.” He tugged on her hand, leading her to the far side of the body.

  “See how those plants are smashed and bent.” He pulled a flashlight out of the backpack slung over his shoulder. “And those dark spots. That’s blood.” Ryan glanced at Shandra. “Let’s see if we can find out where this body came from.”

  “Are you sure we should leave the body? What if more animals come back?”

  “We won’t be gone long. Hold the flashlight, please.” Ryan pulled the camera out of his bag and snapped photos every five yards. Their path was blocked by a four strand barbwire fence.

  “This is the property line.” Shandra stated.

  Sheba sniffed the bottom wire and whimpered.

  Ryan crouched down. “Shine the light on this wire.”

  As he’d expected. Dried blood. “Whatever dragged the body, took it under the fence.” He studied the ground on the other side. An area larger than the body was smashed and trampled.

  “What are you staring at?” Shandra asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Chapter Three

  Shandra enjoyed watching Ryan study and decipher the information he found. Right now he was staring at the smashed-down vegetation on the other side of the fence.

  “Could the animals have attacked him here?” she asked.

  Ryan shook his head. “There should be more blood if several animals were dining on him in this spot.”